Chico State Expo 125 on Saturday, April 14: Community Open House Features More Than 60 Free and Fun Activities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 04-02-2012

Joe Wills
Public Affairs
530-898-4143

A special event for California State University, Chico’s 125th anniversary will be the Chico State Expo 125 Saturday, April 14, featuring a multitude of fun and free activities for the community.

The Chico State Expo 125 will be held rain or shine from 1 to 5 p.m. There is no charge to attend, and everyone is invited.

People are encouraged to come first to Colusa Hall (see campus map http://www.csuchico.edu/maps/campus) to pick up Expo guides and buttons. Refreshments will be served, and CSU, Chico President Paul Zingg and other campus officials will be on hand to greet guests.

The Chico State Expo 125 is a community open house to welcome all area residents to campus to have fun and learn more about the University’s many programs and activities.

“I hope many of our friends and neighbors in Chico and the North State come to see us April 14,” said Zingg. “Chico State has close and long-standing ties to the city of Chico and the region, so this community open house will be a great way to help celebrate our 125th anniversary.”

More than 60 tours, showcases and performances will be held on campus for the Expo 125. There will be lots of games and activities for children on the Glenn Hall lawn as well as free Chico State pennants and photo opportunities with Willie the Wildcat.

Among the events will be

the popular arboretum tour of trees on campus,

art studios and backstage theatre tours,

a chemistry magic show,

Oklahoma! musical revue,

a printmaking demonstration,

“You be the star!” live video production with communication design students,

traditional Hmong dance performance,

an emeriti faculty panel on “Chico State - Then & Now,”

and remembrances and other contributions collected during the year included in a commemorative125th anniversary time capsule.

Admission to the Gateway Science Museum, Valene L. Smith Museum of Anthropology, Turner Printer Museum, and all other galleries and exhibits will be free during the Expo. In addition, both the Bidwell Mansion and Albert E. Warrens Center – formerly the President’s Mansion – will be open for tours. Bidwell Mansion tours will be free with an Expo button available at Colusa Hall.

Educational opportunities include hands-on science labs, a presentation on advances in psychology, and “Classes Without Quizzes” on media ethics, archeoastronomy and story writing.

During the Expo, Chico State athletes will be competing in the Chico Twilight Invitational Track Meet in University Stadium and in a women’s softball double-header against CSU, San Bernardino on the Softball Field. Admission to both events is free. For all information on the Wildcats, go to http://www.chicowildcats.com/.

Free tasting of University Farm products such as sausage, nuts and cheeses will be offered outside Plumas Hall, and produce from the Organic Vegetable Project Farm Stand will be available for purchase.

In Langdon 100 from 1 to 3 p.m., attendees can watch a live video feed from the Patrick Ranch, where CSU, Chico students will be building a new visitors center. Video from other student “Blitz Build” construction projects will also be shown.

A special celebration will take place in Colusa Hall from 4 to 5 p.m., led by President Zingg. The 125th anniversary website http://www.csuchico.edu/125/ has a link to the full schedule of events for the Expo 125.

Prior to the Expo on April 14, CSU, Chico will host Choose Chico! for admitted fall 2012 students and their parents. That event, previously named Admitted Student Preview Day, is to give future students and their families a chance to get information about CSU, Chico and experience campus firsthand. To register for Choose Chico!, please visit http://www.csuchico.edu/admissions/choose_chico.shtml.

In 2012, CSU, Chico is celebrating its 125th anniversary as the second oldest CSU campus in the state. The University was founded in Chico in 1887 as the Northern Branch of the State Normal School. In 1921 the normal school became Chico State Teachers College. In 1935, the name was shortened to Chico State College, and then in 1972, the school officially became California State University, Chico.